Still a group out there creating opposition.

If you're on Facebook please go like this page. It's also a great way to get information on what's going on.

https://m.facebook.com/ARTS-Alliance-for-Reasonable-Traffic-Solutions-101600232504016/

The goal right now is to get 2 At Large Councilmembers to request a halt on the project. There's some momentum so it's possible. I know that Abbie Kamin's team is actively listening to the opposition.

If you're serious send daily or weekly emails to the following:

mayor@houstontx.gov
districtc@houstontx.gov
atlarge1@houstontx.gov
atlarge2@houstontx.gov
atlarge3@houstontx.gov
atlarge4@houstontx.gov
atlarge5@houstontx.gov

Simply state you're opposed to the plan and would like more information if you haven't already.

You can also ask the following questions in your own words:

1) How did the city go about getting resident feedback and did they quantify that resident feedback?
2) Is this a bike lane project or a roadway safety project?
3) Was 14th ever seriously considered for these bike lanes if the City feels additional bike access is needed in the Heights?
4) Data shows that 70% of the crashes being used to help justify this project occurred at 6 intersections. If that data is true are those six intersections a major focus for safety? Does all of 11th have to be altered to make those intersections safer?
5) What other cities have they researched for this traffic calming project and what did they find?
6) What lessons have been learned from similar roadways in Houston where similar plans have already been implemented?
7) Who killed Epstein?

I commend your efforts to be involved in local politics and I enjoy following this saga.

THE DOWNTOWN BIKE LANES SUCK DONKEY BALLS.

To put one on San Jacinto and include no right turn on red signage when it's the main access to 59 North and the HOV is beyond reprehensible and a complete, clustered trajemockery. Still gonna make that right turn, wheels.

The d-bag Chronicle reporter who declared the 11th street bike lane project as all but done in a 100% one sided article is back at it again with another anti-car hit piece with his BikeHouston buddy Joe Cutrufo. I suppose this is what local news looks like when you pay these journalists roughly the same amount as an Uber Eats driver.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Houston-kingwood-bike-crash-loop-494-17022860.php

This is my correspondence to the Mayor and Council members. I am only posting it here in the hope it gives some of you some talking points you can use or share with others to bolster your arguments against the project.

Quote:

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I have lived on [REDACTED] feet from West 11th Street, for the last 16 years. I drive on W. 11th at least twice a day and walk along W. 11th at least once a day.

I am very strongly opposed to the 11th Street Bikeway project.

This is a project for which the City Planning Department has actively tried to evade public discussion and has misled both the public and elected officials. This project will create a horrendous traffic nightmare and will cause massive problems in our neighborhood. Please allow me to detail the specifics of my opposition:

[ol]

I discussed this project at length with then-Deputy Director of Transportation & Drainage Operations Jeff Weatherford. Jeff was very direct in saying this project is "a pet project of a single employee in the Planning Department," "serves no real functional purpose to resolve safety issues," and "will make the traffic in the neighborhood much worse."

The Planning Department often announced public meeting the day before or day of the meeting in order to intentionally reduce the number of attendees. They often spoke of "widespread community support," but could provide no evidence of such and the overwhelming majority of attendees at the few meetings I was made aware of were vehemently opposed to the project. Every property owner in attendance who owns property on or near W. 11th spoke out against the project.

The Planning Department and Ian Hlavacek from Public Works spoke at the first public meeting I attended and declared, "Bike lanes aren't guaranteed - We just figured we could explore them as an option while we try to resolve safety concerns." This was an outright lie. This project was posted on City of Houston websites as a bikeway project from the very beginning. Attempting to claim bike lanes were an afterthought or side effect benefit of this project is an active attempt to deceive the public.

The Planning Department is deceptively manipulating crash statistics to justify this project. Of the total number of crashes they cited on W. 11th between North Shepherd and Pecore, a full 50 percent of them occurred at one single intersection - W. 11th and North Shepherd. This intersection absolutely cannot be compared to any other intersection on this segment of W. 11th. It is the only intersection that involves five lanes (two in each direction plus a left turn lane) intersecting with four lanes in a single direction. Some things to note about crashes at this intersection are that North Shepherd is one-way northbound and motorists are known to erroneously turn southbound onto North Shepherd, traffic on North Shepherd often exceeds the posted speed limit by 10 or more miles per hour, and drive-through patrons at Popeye's Chicken frequently back up out onto North Shepherd.

We've reduced W. 11th to two lanes before and it was a total disaster. Several years ago a repaving project kept W. 11th reduced to one lane in each direction for several weeks. This caused massive traffic backups that were only alleviated by motorists dispersing through the neighborhood streets to get around the traffic backup. This resulted in massively increased vehicular traffic moving at high rates of speed on Allston, Rutland, Tulane, Ashland, W. 8th, W. 9th, W. 10th, W. 12th, and W. 13th Streets. This created safety hazards for the residents of this neighborhood. When the Planning Department claims the traffic will be bad initially, but will then normalize and ease up, this is what they mean - traffic on W. 11th will ease up while traffic on adjacent streets increases dramatically as motorists try to avoid W. 11th.

There are at least three restaurants that cause traffic backups into the outer lanes of W. 11th due to their valet services. If W. 11th is reduced to two lanes, these backups will bring all traffic on W. 11th to a complete halt while restaurant patrons are waiting to valet. This creates the risk that a stopped vehicle could be struck, motorists will attempt to cross into the opposing lane to pass, and traffic will divert into the neighborhood.

The most significant REAL safety issue on W. 11th, excluding the intersection of W. 11th/N. Shepherd is the intersection of W. 11th and the MKT Hike & Bike Trail at Nicholson Street. The posted yield signs are not easily visible, particularly by motorist in the inner two lanes. Installation of a flashing beacon alerting motorists to yield to pedestrians and HPD enforcement will do more to improve safety on W. 11th than this project ever will.

[/ol]
Simply put, this project is a waste of time and resources that will do more harm than good. There are other efforts that could be undertaken to solve the real problems in the area:

[ol]

Narrower lane width on W. 11th to reduce the 85th percentile traffic speed. This can be done with simple restriping of wider double yellow in the middle of the street and collapsing the lanes outward.

Have HPD engage in speed enforcement. The regular presence of "speed traps" is known to reduce overall traffic speed, even when police are not present.

Reduce lane width on North Shepherd from 7th Street to W. 11th. I previously proposed this solution ain 2019, along with a proposal for a pedestrian signal near W. 10th. The City adopted and installed the proposal for a pedestrian signal, but made no changes to lane width on North Shepherd. A copy of the original proposal is attached for your reference. This specific provision for traffic calming on North Shepherd is on the second and third pages and could reduce the 85th percentile speed by as much as nine miles per hour.

[/ol]
As a property owner who will be directly and negatively impacted by this wasteful, unnecessary project, I urge you to put an end to it and not allow it to go forward. Put City resources where they will do some actual good to improve traffic and safety.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

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He's back!

I came here to post the latest I received. I TOTALLY missed an appearance by Ryan The Temp. A damn TexAgs legend showed up for this! Good to know he's around and still fighting the good fight!

Here's the latest:
https://www.change.org/p/force-a-re-think-on-road-diets-11th-street-lane-reduction/u/30513651

Mayor Turner SUSPENDS 11th Street Project for 30 days!!
Heights Resident
Houston, TX, United States
MAY 4, 2022
Hello Everyone -

As you are aware, we have had a presence at Open Council for the last 4 weeks. We made significant strides yesterday! Our own Engineer presented data that demonstrated 11th Street is SAFE and meets the Vision Zero Plan. He showed that the data the City used was out of date and inaccurate to justify the project. Mayor Turner agreed to suspend the project for 30 days so he can do further research.

After the meeting, we were interviewed by KHOU11 which aired last night - link attached

We need to capitalize on this momentum! If you are interested in obtaining a Yard Sign, please send us an email @ Houston@protectingourstreets.com or DM us on FB: ARTS - Alliance for Reasonable Traffic Solutions.

Our request is that each of you take 5 mins this week to send a Thank You email to Mayor Turner, cc:ing all others, expressing your appreciation and why you are appreciative. At Large CM Kubosh stated, "he (mayor) has only done this one time before - we have his attention"

Mayor - mayor@houstontx.gov
Mayor Pro Tem - Dave Martin districte@houstontx.gov
District C - Abbie Kamin - 832-393-3004 - districtc@houstontx.gov
District H - Karla Cisneros - 832.393.3003 - districth@houstontx.gov
At-Large Position 1 - Mike Knox - 832.393.3014 - atlarge1@houstontx.gov
At-Large Position 2 - David Robinson - 832.393.3013 - atlarge2@houstontx.gov
At-Large Position 3 - Michael Kubosh 832.393.3005 atlarge3@houstontx.gov
At-Large Position 4 - Letitia Plummer - 832.393.3012 atlarge4@houstontx.gov
At-Large Position 5 - Sallie Alcorn - 832.393.3017 - atlarge5@houstontx.gov
David Fields Chief Transportation Planner DPW - 832-393-6600 - David.Fields@houstontx.gov

Much Thanks Everyone -
ARTS - Alliance for Reasonable Traffic Solutions

The government is the fuggin worst

Ryan the Temp said:

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Sea Speed said:

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The government is the fuggin worst

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When the public works director tells Channel 2 that 40% of all water meters in the city aren't functioning correctly, I wonder how many meters the $600,000 they are spending on this BS project could have fixed.

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Now imagine if they ran your personal healthcare

I am 100% certain a municipal public works department is not qualified to manage healthcare.

Ryan the Temp said:

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I am 100% certain a municipal public works department is not qualified to manage healthcare.

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They're not even qualified to manage municipal public works.